Tech Forward

Hello listeners, and welcome back to Tech Forward! On this week’s episode, I spoke with D’ontra Hughes, serial entrepreneur, and founder and CEO of fintech platform SPARE. By turning any cash register into an ATM, SPARE helps merchants increase foot traffic and underbanked consumers avoid costly fees. If that sounds familiar, you may have caught his appearance on Shark Tank earlier this year. D’ontra is also a motivational speaker who shares valuable lessons for entrepreneurs about resilience, team building, and finding the right business partners. Today on the show, he’ll share the story of how he built several businesses from the ground up, as well as his advice for other entrepreneurs. While employed at JP Morgan, D’ontra witnessed firsthand how influential financial services are in our everyday lives, as well as how certain consumers could be disenfranchised by these services. For the 20% of the population who are underbanked, the average ATM fee of $4.69 per transaction can make a significant impact on